


Keep your (Not-Quite) Enemies Closer

by Leela



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alpha/Beta Dynamics, M/M, Pack Politics, The Hale Pack - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-20
Updated: 2013-01-20
Packaged: 2017-11-26 06:08:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 851
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/647409
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Leela/pseuds/Leela
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He needs me like he needs the shattered pieces of his soul, keeps me close like the enemy I'm not quite, but he'll never trust me.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Keep your (Not-Quite) Enemies Closer

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Valress (Val_Brown)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Val_Brown/gifts).



> For valress as a (slightly early) birthday present. Many thanks to aislinntlc for the preread.

Derek doesn't trust me. He needs me like he needs the shattered pieces of his soul, keeps me close like the enemy I'm not quite, but he'll never trust me. 

He's a smart man. 

I don't trust myself. Not on a good day when I can feel the smile in my heart and reach out and touch people with a semblance of caring. And never ever on the bad days, when flames lick at the corners of my vision, charring the edges black, and sinking red-hot claws into me.

Like today, when I hide in the shadows of the house, always making sure to be in the same room as Derek. He tolerates my presence because he knows that it's not safe for me to be too far away from my alpha's control.

That doesn't mean it's easy for me to see him, to smell him, and not go to him, not curl up at his feet and be touched by him. But Derek's pet human is here, and no one wants Stiles to know what being pack truly means.

"Right there. See." Stiles taps a finger on his computer screen. "We'll have to go at night, but it's totally doable. Their security sucks."

Derek gets up and leans over to stare at whatever Stiles is showing him. His chest touches Stiles's shoulder, and a growl escapes me before I can stop it. Derek's head tilts, so he can look directly at me, and his upper lip peels back from his teeth. 

It's a warning and promise. I bow my head, acknowledging my alpha's gift, and press my fist against my heart, holding it close.

"We should go tonight," Stiles says, oblivious as only a human can be. "There's a pep rally scheduled at the school. Perfect distraction, especially if Jackson and Scott get into it like they always do."

The human keeps talking and talking and talking. I don't know how Derek stands it without slashing his throat open to cut him off.

"I should have bitten him," I whisper to Derek. "Cut through his skin with my teeth, pressed in deeply enough to taste the sweet innocence of his blood." 

Derek's heart trips a beat, and he shifts even closer, curling around Stiles from behind. The picture they make is so fucking adorable it makes me sick. 

"Scott's too unpredictable," Derek says, although it's clear to me that he's not really talking about Scott. "We can't trust him to stay there and not interfere."

"But see, that's the best part." Stiles turns around in his chair, and Derek has to pull back. "We work that into the plan. Assume that Scott will decide to play hero, even if we don't need him, and use that disruption to our advantage."

"Smart boy," I whisper, because some truths can't be denied. "He should be pack."

Derek shakes his head. 

"Oh, come on. You know I’m right."

"You know I'm right," I repeat Stiles's words, shifting out of the shadows just enough for Derek to see my smile. 

Moving so he's between me and Stiles, Derek says, "If we count on him for anything, you know he'll do something else and fuck everything up."

Stiles huffs and swings his feet. "I know Scott."

"Maybe." 

I recognize Derek's tone of voice. It should be the end of the discussion, but the human isn't pack.

"There's no maybe about it. Scott has a hero-complex. He wants to win the girl and everything else, and he thinks being a werewolf is better than being smart." Stiles makes a face. "He's wrong, of course. Wolfie powers are great, you know, but they won't save anyone if he's stupid about it."

"You could have him if he was pack." 

Derek's intake of breath is audible. Stiles blinks up at him, pausing for a second before he starts talking again. 

"Alphas can't mate with humans." I lick my lips, and watch Derek force himself not to do the same. "You'll destroy him if you try. But if you bite him, if _I bite him_ , he'll be yours."

I can feel Derek's need, his _want_. It burns hotter than a furnace, licking outward along our connection, filling me, pushing back the flames that are twining around me. 

"You're not even listening, are you? I don't know why I even bother. You're worse than Scott sometimes."

Derek wants to deny Stiles's accusation, but he can't lie. Not to this human who's as close to pack as anyone can be without being a part of it. Instead, he murmurs, just below the range of human hearing, "Be quiet."

I want to mock him, to bow and say _As my alpha commands_ , but I'm silenced; left to watch from the shadows, to see Derek touch his pet human, to know he's listening to Stiles in ways that he should be listening to me. 

One day, I promise myself, I'll emerge from the shadows. Blow the smoke out of my eyes and the flames away from my soul, and take back my place in this pack.

It will taste so good, so sweet.


End file.
